Gender Justice Scorecard: IFIs in Haiti analyzes the gender sensitivity of Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank investments from 2013-17. The two IFIs spent nearly $1.5 billion in Haiti during this period, substantially less than during 2010-13 following the 2010 earthquake (see our report Building Back by Half or BBBH). The Scorecard found less effort to promote gender justice and rights than did BBBH. Most projects still fail to provide measures to prevent Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV); create gender equal access to and gender-disaggregated data for project consultations and benefits; and approach gender from a human rights perspective. No projects analyzed even mentioned LGBTI people. Many projects may cause forced resettlement and price increases for basic services such as education, electricity, and water, which will disproportionately harm women and sexual minorities. The report presents a series of conclusions and recommendations addressing these and other issues.

Gender Action, established in 2002 is the world’s first and lead organization holding the world’s largest development banks (also known as International Financial Institutions or IFIs) accountable for gender impacts of their investments across sectors. Over the years, Gender Action has developed the foundations for a global movement that is coming to fruition: Women’s, LGBTI and other human and environment rights groups around the world are increasingly partnering with Gender Action in advocacy that pushes IFIs such as the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and new Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, to promote gender equal justice and rights of women, men and sexual minorities. Examples of groups which have been partnering with Gender Action to achieve these goals are the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA), BRICS Feminist Watch, the Bank Information Center, the Bretton Woods Project, CEE-Hope Nigeria, the National Association for Women’s Action in Development Uganda, the NGO Forum on the ADB (Asian Development Bank), Both ENDS, WoMin (African Women Unite Against Destructive Resource Extraction) and many other organizations.

Our Gender Scorecard and Analysis of AIIB Projects: A Documentary Review, finds of the first 24 AIIB approved projects, the majority, 15 (62.5%) of projects ranked weakly for gender sensitivity. Only 3 out of the 24 (12.5 %) ranked strongly and 6 (25%) moderately for gender sensitivity. The analysis is based strictly of documentary analysis. However, early on-the-ground CSO feedback suggests documentary gender promises are not being met during implementation. This feedback forebodes the possibility that a greater proportion of projects than this scorecard suggests could actually have harmful gender impacts.

Sexual Assaults in the World Bank

Elaine Zuckerman wrote a letter to the World Bank Ombudsman in December 2017 describing her experiences being sexually assaulted by two male World Bank officials in the early 1980s. Like other women who did not feel safe coming forward in the past during this era of reckoning and accountability she spoke up about previous sexual assaults by supervisors and colleagues. Her letter closed with the thought, “Now is the ideal moment to examine, spotlight and redress past and present sexual violations in the Bank so that all staff have the safe workplace they deserve!” Read Elaine’s letter here.

AIIB and NDB

Gender Action has been leading advocacy on the gender impacts of the world’s newest rapidly-growing development banks: the New Development Bank (NDB) and Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that launched in early 2016. Their establishment reflects a power shift in the international system from the developed industrialized world towards emerging market economies.

The NDB, created by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), contains 43% of the world’s population, and includes three of the world’s largest economies measured by GDP -- China (2nd), India (7th) and Brazil (9th). While its initial loans are to BRICS countries the NDB plans to lend to other developing countries. The AIIB, with 80 member countries already, lends to countries across Asia and beyond. Both development banks loans support infrastructure projects, especially energy in the NDB’s case.

Gender Action Advocacy on the NDB and AIIB is pushing them to initially:
(1) Create and implement strong mandatory gender policies
(2) Train all staff to routinely implement gender policies in all operations
(3) Hire senior gender experts to lead these processes.

Gender Action advocacy on the NDB is conducted through BRICS Feminist Watch (BFW), an alliance formed in 2016 to collectively promote gender-inclusive development in NDB policies and operations. BFW provides Gender Action with a strong platform to conduct advocacy. In 2017 Gender Action joined other BFW members in meetings with the NDB President and other managers in Shanghai to advocate our above agenda.

Late in 2018 the World Bank will begin implementing its new Environmental and Social Framework (ESF). The ESF weakens the Bank’s current environmental and social safeguards. Gender, women, men, girls, boys and sexual minorities are almost invisible in the ESF despite Gender Action campaigning to make gender a priority of the new ESF standards.

Gender Action conducted a long overdue Gender Analysis of the IFC’s 2012 Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability. The IFC, the private sector financing arm of the World Bank Group, is playing an increasingly prominent role in Group operations. The IFC boasts that its Performance Standards set the benchmark for other IFIs including on gender-sensitivity. But Gender Action’s analysis found that the Performance Standards hardly address women’s rights and gender justice issues.

Haiti: Mining

In this article Elaine Zuckerman explores harmful gender and environmental issues that likely mining activity in Haiti would generate. Women, who primarily steward Haiti’s land, forests, water and eco-systems that sustain their households could lose access to natural resources and livelihoods and suffer sexual violence triggered by potential mining. The Haiti Advocacy Working Group, which Gender Action co-founded in 2010, published by the article.

Haiti:

Gender Action participated in the 2017 Haiti Advocacy Working Group (HAWG) climate change delegation to Haiti that investigated Hurricane Matthew’s devastation of Haiti’s breadbasket in the South. HAWG follow-up advocacy led the Global Environmental Facility and other donors to grant $26 million to help rebuild productive agriculture following Hurricane Matthew’s destruction.

Gender Action and CEE-Hope Nigeria profile Bank project evictee Bimbo Oshobe, a mother of four whose life was upturned when a Bank-financed project bulldozed her slum several years ago. Residents were evicted without consultation, warning or compensation, and left homeless in crowded, dangerous Lagos. Years later the “urban renewal” project has not delivered its promise to upgrade the slum. Bimbo has slept outdoors and in makeshift shelters since the project flattened her home and soda-drink business, her source of livelihood. Other evictees became utterly destitute: A few died from malnutrition. Some women and girls have been raped and others turned to sex work to survive. Bimbo’s homelessness transformed her into an activist. Read her story here: World Bank Project Evictee Becomes Women’s Rights Activist - Bimbo Oshobe .

Gender Action provides a vital and user friendly toolkit for civil society groups to incorporate gender perspectives into their work on the IFIs or any other projects. All sections contain electronic hyperlinks to a vast array of available gender resources. Click on an underlined word to be directed to the specific tool you need!

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